I forced myself to do a top ten, finally, after giving some albums much needed re-listens.
Honorable Mention
Band of Horses- Everything All The Time
Your enjoyment of this album is largely determined by how this sentence hits you: "My Morning Jacket, with less of a classic rock fetish, topped with the Shins's sweet indie pop." I really love both bands, and so I love this album. I do think the band have a ways to go before they deliver a true classic, but
Everything All The Time is quite good.
10) Neko Case- Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
I find myself beginning every thing about this album with "Neko Case is great, but..." The stuff after "but..." being: I don't think her voice is quite as stunning and enthralling as some have suggested. Don't get me wrong. It is a very good, emotive, and unique voice. But it's not like she's going to re-invent singing, or make you swoon. She is not, as they sometimes say, the kind of person you'd be content hearing sing the phone book. So luckily the songs that float underneath are every bit as good, emotive, and unique. The best descriptor I can think of is "country music that doesn't sound like country music" but that's not exactly true.
9) Mogwai- Mr. Beast
I used to own some Mogwai EP a long time ago, which I eventually traded in, and then promptly forgot about Mogwai for about three years. Then I heard a bunch of people recommend this album, which I just as promptly bought and fell in love with. Mogwai are one of those love it or hate it propositions. I have a friend who swears by
Spiderland but will sigh loudly when I try to play Mogwai. Perhaps they are most enjoyable when you are in the mood--trying to listen to Mogwai on a sunny day has never worked for me--but when you are in the mood, there is almost nothing better.
Mr. Beast is everything you like, or could like, about Mogwai in one neat package.
Liars- Drum's Not Dead
The first two times I listened to this album, I thought it was fantastic, and would probably be the best album of the year. Since then, a combination of better albums and repeat listens have lowered my estimation. Still a really great album, dense with ideas, sounds, and rhythms, but never suffocatingly so. The accompanying DVD, with three full movies set to the entire album, were an interesting idea I think more bands ought to try.
7) Danielson- Ships
Addictive, quirky indie pop with a huge crowd of collaborators that never overwhelms the arrangements. The songs sound full, but if you didn't know there were so many people involved, you would never guess the number. Anyway, 'Did I Step On Your Trumpet' was one of my favorite songs of the year. Though the weakest songs are toward the end of the album, it ends on a high note with 'Five Stars And Two Thumbs Up', a deliriously fun wrap-up party of sorts.
6) Deerhoof- Untitled EP
Yes, I'm serious, the free EP they released on their website after the one guitarist left to pursue his own band...I listened to it over and over like it was an album. It would make more sense, perhaps, if I combined this with the recently released
+81 EP, but I think this EP is one of the most perfect summations of what it is in Deerhoof that appeals to me. It may not be as over-the-top as their earlier work, but that's OK. By trading in some of their avant garde and hyperactive tendencies for--gasp--actual songwriting and pop sensibilities, Deerhoof have only gotten better with time.
5) Tapes 'N Tapes- The Loon
Something happens to me when I listen to this album. It's not that sense of easy perfection that classic albums have; listening to this one is not like hearing
Blonde On Blonde for the first time, where you keep nodding and thinking "christ, it is as good as they said..." No, what happens to me when I listen to
The Loon is more akin to reading a great poem and knowing
I could do this. Were I more motivated, more talented, and had the necessary equipment, I could do something like this. Great art often inspires me just as often as it makes me want to give up; Tapes 'N Tapes inspire me, while Bob Dylan makes me want to give up. Their influences may be obvious but the consistently great songwriting--and, for lack of a better work, charisma--on display slowly worms its way into your heart like the best rock music.
4) Yo La Tengo- I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Another great Yo La Tengo album, continuing a great-album-string that goes back to the early 90s?? Yes please!! There's something pleasingly familiar and also blissfully new about the album, like re-connecting with a friend after two years' absence and sharing great memories and creating new ones.
3) Joanna Newsom- Ys
I never thought I would go for this sort of album. I thought I would be annoyed by her voice, judging from descriptions. I thought I would be irritated by the quirky, unique harp-led instrumentation. I thought the pedigree of the album would overwhelm it--Steve Albini, Jim O'Rourke, and Van Dyke Parks were all involved. But man did she ever pull it all off!!
Ys is a rich, almost novel-like album that truly reminds one that music can be just as beautiful instrumentally as it can be richly textual and poetic through words. You will come back to this album again and again to chew on it, getting new snippets of lyrics and quirks each time.
2) Destroyer- Destroyer's Rubies
Honest to god, I have listened to this album more in the past year than anything else. I have always loved Dan Bejar's work with the New Pornographers (I dare you not to want to sing along with 'Jackie, Dressed In Cobras'), but I've never felt compelled to seek out his solo work until this album. Here he combines the self referrential mythos of his singer/songwriter tendencies with addictive pop/rock arrangements that beg listening and re-listening. I give him credit for starting the album with the longest song, an audacious move that actually works.
1) TV On The Radio- Return To Cookie Mountain
It's always great when a band really hits their stride, and hopefully
Cookie Mountain will prove to be this for TV On The Radio. It is a fantastic album that has its own unique sound and feel, like a movie you can't quite describe to a friend. Not only that, but put on a pair of headphones and you'll TRULY notice the god damn amazing production on this album. If their first album left you wanting, then this will deliver the goods.
